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Comments
Someone on another forum suggested trying GreenBrakes as well, but I think I'll just resign myself to the fact that wheel cleaning will be a part of having this car. When the ESP kicks in, it most likely adds a lot to the brake dust problem. They probably don't have pads for them yet anyway. I do find it very difficult to feather the brakes. It's seems it's all or nothing as they grab very well. Are the Viper brakes like that too?
I've also decided to go along with the F1's even though they have a reputation of having a short lifespan. They're very grippy and that's what I want in a tire. I won't be driving it in the winter either. They seem to be good in the rain, but then again I don't plan on driving it in that either.
According to Ralph Gilles who designed the car, it will really open up after 5-6K miles performance wise. There are some who think it's a software thing that will give it full power after that. I personally think it's tight tolerances and as things loosen up performance will increase. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the 0-60 times will be under 5 seconds. No one as far as I know has times so far, but I'm sure this info will come out soon enough as the tracks open up and more of these cars are around. At 4100 or so pounds, this car flies and I'm sure it's faster than your E430 now.
Unfortunately Jay Leno wasn't at the car show this weekend, but I've been promised by the person I'm in contact with in California will get me an answer sometime as she is into these shows a lot.
BJS
"We had the pleasure of not only Frank's company today at the annual Kansas City Viper Club Dyno Day (very generously sponsored by Doug Levin Motorsports), but also got to see the Cruise Missle in action. My only mistake was in not getting a copy of Frank's dyno sheet to post it. I suspect I can remedy that pretty easily tomorrow (4/18). Nonetheless, here is the basic information that so many have been waiting for:
2005 300C SRT-8: 367.2 RWHP and 353.9 RWTQ
Assuming the typical parasitic loss of 20% for an automatic transmission on a rear wheel drive vehicle, this beauty is making (gulp) 459 horsepower and 442.4 ft lbs of torque at the flywheel! Congrats Frank!"
Looks like the HP rating of 425 was conservative. Just for the record this car was doing 0-60 in 3.9 seconds in testing, so fast that the ESP couldn't keep up with it so they detuned it.
BJS
http://kansascityvca.com/srt8/srt8dchart.jpg
BJS
Assuming Chrysler makes SRT8 convertible, what will extra power do to the convertible body?
Maybe 2-door is better for this version?
It's interesting that all of a sudden, because you are impatient and can't get a car that just started production, it becomes "Exclusive and Limited Crap".
I don't know about everyone else, but if I paid $50k+ for a vehicle I would hope to get better than this:
"...the M45 is noisy on the highway, its steering can feel a bit raw around town and its suspension is the only one that crashes over large road irregularities..." (Edmunds review).
For myself, I loved the SRT-8 package but never got in line due to combination of price and the difficulty I anticipated (and shown in some posts above) in getting such a hot limited production car. See my recent post on 300C forum for my full "saga". So I sympathize with silverrush in that I needed a car *now* as well and I pulled the trigger on the Infiniti G35 instead of the M45. However, I think any of you that get an 05 or 06 SRT-8 will be getting a very spectacular car - Good luck and enjoy!
I am paying MSRP, and I am in no hurry. My dealer says the end of May, or the beginning of June, seems to look good. If anyone checks out any dealers on-line inventory, they are listing 2006 models (no srt8s though) as being in stock. This tells me that the new models are being assembled. So, I wait!
(kudos to rambit, btw!) heres my 'deal': back in january i read about the srt8. i test drive the 300c awd. cool. go to internet, search local dealer, makes calls. luck upon luck, a dealer close by says---sure, we have one, black, loaded, no one bought it yet, do you want it? ummm, well, HELL YEAH! small depost down. get this, when i put the deposit down, the car was already in D status. 2006 model, come April 10 days ago, goes D1, then BINGO----its in my garage last night! while wating like most of you, i thought well, likely will take forever to get the srt8, and who knows if the dealer will keep his word....
test drove many cars, including, lexus, m45, caddy sts, etc, etc. just couldnt get my mind off the srt8---AND DAMN GOOD THING I DIDNT, PEOPLE! The car is truly all that, looks cool, power that is truly endless, apparently very good build quality, and the price, which yes, i just paid MSRP, was, all in all, fair and i got what i paid for! now i do know that frustration abounds here, and that i appear to have been quite fortunate, but if you can just relax, just know that the cars are truly being built and delivered. and by the way, my dealer was offered 5000 over msrp from multiple parties to sell the car out from under me.
to their credit and honor, they did not. also, no bull, while i was taking delivery at the dealership, two separate guys tried to buy the car after just seeing it in front of the dealership.
the car is hot. it looks hot. it drives torrid. it truly is smokin! (and yet still a big, comfortable sedan!) the tires and wheels are just too cool!
on the other hand, right before i took delivery of the srt8, infiniti called me up after i test drive and rejected their almost 60K M45 to tell me to please come back that it work "be worth my while" (as in nice discount) soooo, supply and demand, folks.....the facts speak for themselves. dont blame the circumstances on hot demand and give chrysler some credit for designing and building such a great car at a fair price-----and lets hear it for the guys and gals up Canada way workin their tails off to bring us more us these totally awsome "beasts"! im one man from massachusets who is happy and proud with mine.
(that being said, i do think you have to keep a close eye on the dealerships--mine was quite straight-up and kept thieir work, but you know the temptation is hugh to make some quick and large profit on this car---heck, i could turn around right now with only 22 miles on mine and get whatever the market would bear......nice!)
Ive had so many different cars, some overtly fancy, but best and most fun have been the understated "beasts" without any pretensions. This car is all that.
Your disappointment is quite understandable---this car is not easy to buy. Thats just one reason I really love owning one! Test drive one lately? Of course you havent, cuz you CANT. Call it what you want, reason any way you wish, but its still the classic case of wanting something simply because it IS all that, and because it really is so darn hard to actually secure one! So goes the car biz----its not just Chrysler. Any manufacturer who has the 'hot' car of the day has the same issues. All those other cars are sitting in inventory for a reason---more cars than buyers. So simple. All that being said, we all just hope to find the car that makes us smile. Many good cars can do that. But this darn
BEAST is just a load of fun! Sorry you couldnt feel the excitement and power of this American Beast---only then would you know what you missed.
BJS
Thanks for the optimistic message. There is still hope!!
What was the FIX, why or how does water get into the trans.
The only wheels I could find that would match up were on Bigwheels.net and they are made by Zinik. They are 20" Zinik Z17 Caroza wheels and the size is 20 X 8.5. The SRT 8 wheels are 20 X 9.0. Will that make a difference??? I'm also not sure of the bolt pattern and offset of the SRT wheels so I'm hesitant to make an expensive purchase like this unless its a super fit. I'm also wandering if I should look into just getting these original wheels chrome plated or if that will not look good after a short time and chip easily. Any suggestions for what I should do and (or) where I can get a perfect fit for similar wheels (but chrome) will be greatly appreciated.
Many people are telling me I should just leave the wheels alone and go with whats on them. I'M SO CONFUSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
COACH IN VIRGINIA
BJS
If you have any info on who that person was that got the wheels chromed and where he had it done, please forward me the info.
Thanks,
Coach
You're kidding me right? You're comparing a performance vehicle with performance suspension to a entry level-luxury Toyota?
SRT-8 may be smooth but it's not meant to be quiet ;-)
I ordered my silver SRT-8 on Feb.17th. Unfortunately I just missed the ability to wave the $2100 gas guzzler tax. Im anticipating the arrival sometime in June. Im not in any rush since I'll be getting married on June25th. I just found out from my salesman that we can now pick the Silver Steel color AND the rear video DVD system. I've decided to do both. As for the Kicker system w/10"sub?? I'm hoping by June they'll have their mind made up whether they are really doing it.
Good luck and patience IS a virtue!!!!!
JC
is your car show or go?
Thanks
Coach
It is one of their two dream "driver" cars - the other is the Lotus.
Most likely shortages and dealer markups will be on this baby for a long time. And if I had smooth mountain or winding roads to drive on, this would be one I'd consider.
I was checking on any early signs of problems with the SRT 8 and discovered some weld issues with seat belt anchors, possible bolt tightening issue with the shoulder harness, and, most disturbing: possibility of improperly tightened battery cable fasteners at the bulkhead which may cause instrument panel fires! :-(
Please refer to:
http://www.internetautoguide.com/auto-recalls/67-int/2005/chrysler/300/srt8/
I'm still waiting for my SRT 8. Would some of you lucky guys that already have taken delivery of your new SRT 8 maybe post any early issues or quirks with the car that may be of interest to those of us still waiting? It sure would be helpful to know some of the minor (or major, for that matter) problems prior to taking delivery.
Thanks!
Spokes
Nice link, though.
Thanks,
RR
I did notice the descrepancy and should have included it in my message. I still found it interesting that it was listed under SRT 8 and not just the 300 even at this late date.
Spokes
How do you think an M3 feels?
The salesman called me in the middle of December to confirm the options and exterior color we wanted. On December 22nd he called again to tell us that the car had been ordered. He kept us informed about the status of our car as the status changed. Our car was built on March 7, 2005 and we took delivery of the car on March 31, 2005.
Our salesman asked if he could have a ride in the car after the break-in period. I told him yes and on April 22 I brought the car back to the dealership and told him to take it for a ride. He and another salesman took the car out for about half an hour. When they came back they both had smiles ear to ear and they couldn't believe the power it had over the 340 HP Hemi C they had driven from time to time.
My wife and I brought our SRT-8 to the drag strip on April 23rd 2005, with 2250 miles on it. We've been racing cars at a couple of drag strips since 1965. The track conditions were not good. This was a test day for street cars and they didn't put down any compound. Our worst 60' time was 2.553.
We both ran 13.60's and 13.70's that day. The best I ran was 13.607 @ 104.73 mph, and the best my wife ran was 13.604 @ 106.54 mph. We've raced many cars over the past 40 years but to race a 4 door sedan bone stock on the factory tires was lots of fun! We ran better times that day (lower ET's and higher MPH's), than a 2002 Corvette convertible, a 2004 GTO automatic and a 2005 GTO 4 speed. The GTO drivers both complemented my wife on her win over their cars. They were really impressed.
I swear Chrysler has the SRT-8s programmed to come off the line with less power to save on the drive line. Even then the traction control works hard to keep the tires from spinning.
On May 2, 2005, with 2760 miles on the odometer, I brought the car over to Hi Tech Motor Sport for a dyno run. The best of two pulls produced 357.4 RW HP and 360.2 RW TQ and the air fuel ratio was 12.5. The technician and one of the owners of Hi Tech Motor Sports were both very impressed with the power the SRT-8 was producing and both predicted an improvement over that pull once the car had a few more thousand miles on it.
The car does feel stronger with each additional thousand miles on it. We have since purchased drag radials and new rims for the car. We plan on going to another race track on May 14, 2005. We will post the results.
For those of you who are thinking about cancelling your orders because you are tired of waiting for your car, my advice to you is, ITS WORTH THE WAIT. We have never owned a car that gets more attention on the street or the track than the SRT-8 gets.
With slalom numbers like this, I think a firm ride can be tolerated!!
600 ft slalom:
GTO 63.6 mph
CTS-V 66.8 mph
SRT-8 67.3 mph
The fit and finish of our car is better than any car we have ever owned.
The 300C SRT-8 has factory exhaust headers and they sound great!
Highs: Performance shames that of most sports cars, $42,095 base price, machine-gun exhaust note, Porsche-grade stopping distances, room for five.
Lows: Acres of gray plastic inside, choppy bad-road ride, spongy brake-pedal feel,
The Verdict: AMG-like performance, Mercedes-like refinement at a Chrysler price.
Gotta love it!
What about the kicker speakers? don't know the brand and wasn't sure I should order it?
Anyway the awesome news that I'd like to share with everyone is that I am with the military in Germany and I will be truly exploiting this car's potential on the autobahn... any SRT-8 owners that will be visiting Germany after August should email me for a spin in the True Land of the Free.. Will keep you posted, I hope the military car sales dealership will get their order filled without delays